The Photo
by my pen is better than my sword
Summary: Liechtenstein can't guess who is in this old photo with her older brother. But she is determined to find out...who knows what the cost will be?  sounds bad, but  hopefully  not when I'm done...  AusXHun couple mentions involved
1. Chapter 1

Liechtenstein held up the photo to examine it. She stared solemnly at it, eyes focused on the characters within it. She nodded slightly to herself and set it back down in her closet. She ran her fingers over the purple ribbon she wore in her short ruely cut hair. It was the ribbon given by her brother. The same one in the picture.

She sat on her bed. So many things were running through her head and it was making her dizzy. She laid back, sun streaming on her face. She had no idea who her brother was standing next to in the painting, but they must have been close before, in a time even before her existence. She closed her eyes. She had lived with her older brother, Switzerland, for a long time now, but if she thought carefully, she barely knew him. She flinched. This bothered her; how could she show she loved and cared for him when she didn't know him? He knew her; he made an effort to spend time and please her, and to take care of her. But she had done nothing for his sake.

Liechtenstein sat up again. Her thoughts flew back to the photo of her brother and the stranger. Perhaps invading her brothers privacy wasn't a good idea; maybe she should bury the photo back deep into her closet and forget it.

She pondered this for a moment. Lately she had been feeling something bothering Switzerland…and it was affecting him negatively. Truth be told, she had found this photo a few weeks ago, before her brother had started acting strangely…she was sure that this photo could provide the answers. Lichtenstein nodded. This was the right thing; it was for Switzerland. She stood and walked towards the photo. It was for Switzerland she repeated silently to herself as she knelt down and stared deeply into the photo.

It was for him.

**Sooooooo...thats it so far. I think it's enough for chapter one...haha, first time uploading to Fanfiction...pain in the _!**

**What'chya think? Review please... :)**


	2. Chapter 2

The screen door slammed open, not because Switzerland was in a foul temper, but because the door was very touchy.

Liechtenstein was in the kitchen, cleaning up what she had eaten for breakfast earlier in the day. She glanced innocently through the archway of the room to give a smile to her brother. He nodded at her lightly and gave a smile in return. She grinned and hid her head from view. She paused in her cleaning, and her face fell. It had been only a few weeks ago when her brother became distant and concerned with…well, that's what Liechtenstein wanted to know. She looked down. Vash had recently been rather…quiet around her. He wasn't in the house earlier in the day and she had to cook and eat breakfast alone…actually, Liechtenstein realized as she glanced back up out the window into the yard, that he hadn't shared a meal with her in days. It hit her hard and she froze. That was something she hadn't noticed…and now that she had, she felt a pressing emptiness knock against her chest.

She looked back down quickly and began scrubbing at the dishes fiercely, trying to get the feeling and the thoughts out of her mind and body. These feelings will end soon, she thought to herself. Once you find out who is in the picture…and figure out the connection of the issue now…it'll be worth it, and everything will go back to normal. I'll be Liechtenstein and he'll go back to being my brother.

She was in that state of self-reassurance when the phone rang. She paid no mind to it and continued to clean. It was only when Switzerland answered the phone that Liechtenstein turned off the faucet and leaned away from the sink. She kept her feet in place, and laid her back against the wall.

It was an awkward position, but she could hear a bit of Vash's conversation. He seemed mildly concerned about something…

"No, that's not it." Liechtenstein heard him say suddenly and loudly. She pressed against the wall closer, moving her feet from their original position.

"I don't want to see her...getting…yes it's true…

She pursed her lips. She couldn't hear much of the conversation anymore; his voice had dropped to a soft murmur. She heard his footsteps turn and walk towards her and she (instinctively) quickly went back to the sink. She peered out of the corner of her eye to see Switzerland peering out of the screen door into the distance, still on the phone. But he was just listening, giving slight nods and murders of yeses and yeah's. Liechtenstein wanted desperately to know who he was talking to, and who he was talking about. She turned to face him, expression set to sweet concern…but Vash failed to see it. He continued talking in a low but calm voice…a type of way Liechtenstein had never heard him speak in…It was so…emotionless.

Switzerland turned towards the kitchen then, and saw Liechtenstein's expression of concern. He paused as he gazed at her, then quickly replied into the phone with an "All right…yes, I'll meet you there." He walked back to where the phone was hung and placed it away, hanging up on whoever he was talking to.

Liechtenstein poked her head out from the kitchen. Switzerland had his hand against the wall and was hunched over. She didn't know what was wrong…she felt a wave of worry wash over her body. She wanted to make his worry disappear; she wanted to do something…

A hand placed itself on Lilli's arm. She flinched out of surprise, and turned to see Switzerland standing behind her, a jacket slung over his shoulder. "Yes?" She asked him. "We need to…ahh…" Vash started, but then shook his head. "We need to go to the market* to get…something."

He reached over and got a jacket for Liechtenstein, and handed it to her. "Let's go." He said, walking out the door.

She put the jacket on, and followed him. She watched him walk ahead of her, deep in thought. She wondered who he was talking to…and why they had needed to go to the market. They had everything that they needed…could this possibly be related to why he was so worried? It seemed so…open…and random…

Liechtenstein nodded swiftly. It had to be. The way he was talking on the phone…it had to be.

Switzerland opened up the car door and got in, Lilli following. She looked up at her brother as he began to drive…and a thought hit her.

She shared everything with him. Everything.

Yet here she was now, trying to find out what was on his mind because he wouldn't tell her. Or, she realized, because she hadn't asked.

"Bruder..." she started. Switzerland turned his head to her in question. "Yes?"

Liechtenstein turned her body to face him. "Why are we going to the market?"

Switzerland didn't answer immediately; he turned back to the road. "We uhm…need to get something for…" he trailed off and turned suddenly into the parking lot.

Liechtenstein looked out the window. She Switzerland would be too bothered to tell her. She knew that she had to find out on her own.


	3. Updates 51011

**Hey, so yeah, chapter 3 is…NOT HERE**

**Don't leave, let me explain myself…hehheh…**

**Okay, I am NOT getting rid of this story. This story isn't one of those random spurs where authors hook on readers the just end it all. Nu-uh. Not me. I will NEVER do that, I hate the feeling; it sucks.**

**No. I am here to tell you that first of all, I am putting on a school play in…3 days and that I have been going to 6:30 rehearsals everyday all weekdays, so I have had 0 time to write. Second, I was absent Friday for take your child to work and everything SUMMATIVE was due that day :/ I've been having to make all that up…plus the play just…adds on to pressure like that…if you can imagine,,,**

**Lastly, I don't know what Vash should be doing during chapter 3…bleh, lemme rephrase that: I know what he should be doing, but I don't know the item that he should…gah never mind, it makes no sense….**

**OKAY I LIED _THIS_ IS THE LAST THING:**

**…I have more than this _one_ story…**

**I have TWO other lonely, review-less stories that need your love and support to GROW in popularity, because I know that they're good…but not if you people aren't looking at them!**

**I have a one-shot of Japan, and then I have an amazing story that is and will forever be in progress! It's a PKM manga, but don't worry, because if you aren't a pkm fanatic, then you'll still understand it, I swear…really. If I didn't make it understandable, then no one I know would read it…**

**So, read it. Please. Even if you HATE pkm, just read the first chapter…at least. PLEASE! GIVE ME A REASON TO OBSESS OVER EVERY DETAIL OF IT!**

**…_now_ that is all :)**

***wow i _love _how fanfiction deletes all the extra stuff i added it! :C***


	4. Updates 51911

Okay, WOW thank you everyone for…subscribing while I said I was temporarily on hold…I find it funny how more people subscribe when I say I'm pausing…

Please, please please PLEASE…read my Pokemon story. Please! I have 0 reviews! I'm not that bad of an author…*gulp* _…I hope…_

Uh, ah…erm, anyways, I mentioned "the play" last time…It was awesome! I didn't get one of those tiny roles, I was the Wicked Witch of the West (MS production of Wizard of Oz) and it was fun! :D that's all that counts though! (my enemy failed though so I was even more happy! (jk…not) and I did soooo good! Sounds really "modest" doesn't it? Don't worry, just spazzing about it!)

So, anyways, I've been working ON the Pokemon story, spending every minute thinking about it…it's sooo amazing, you'll love it once it picks up speed…it can do that if you READ IT!

I apologize for not giving you a chapter, I AM working on it though, don't worry! I just wrote something and I don't want to reveal it immediately so I am trying to say the same thing but in a lesser, rephrased way…so…that'll be a bit…while…I guess…I'm not sure…

I, am again, quite sorry…I wanted to update you on how "this" is going, but I kind of just wasted your time…you're probably just groaning to yourselves…

But I really want reviews for the Pokemon Manga and the story I wrote about Japan! :/

(the thing is, I can't threaten to not update my stories, because then you all won't care because I am a sucky author anyways…so…booh. Just review them, please!)

Star saying…REVIEW OR I KILL YOU


	5. Chapter 3

I've decided to have a disclaimer…ahem…I don't own countries…or people…I think that's considered illegal… o. o

"Hey Lilli," Switzerland called out as Liechtenstein stepped out of the car. She turned to him. "Yes?" she asked. He looked around his surroundings and leaned in close. "Don't uh…get too…far away from me," he leaned back up. "Okay?"

Lilli pouted up at him in her mind, but nodded sweetly in real life. It wasn't going to be easy trying to "investigate" with Vash watching over her every move…yes in truth, _she_ was the one who wanted life to go back to the way that it was, but in order to make that happen, she needed to distance herself from him for the time being…

They walked silently up through the parking lot, markets that had been set up around the road. Liechtenstein looked around surprised. The both of them hadn't ever come to this market before…it was more like a _bazaar_ to a market…how did Vash…

Liechtenstein shook her head very quickly as so Switzerland wouldn't see it. It would make sense that he would know something that she didn't; as she looked up at him looking determinedly straight ahead, she remembered how it had been all to clear lately that he was hiding something.

She attempted to take hold of his hand. He instinctively dodged the sign of affection, but then accepted. A wave tension went through Liechtenstein's hand and up her arm. _Why did he dodge me?_ She thought, looking down to the ground, biting her tongue._ He…he's never been so…blunt…with me before…_

Liechtenstein suddenly wanted to scream, kick, shout, do anything to get rid of the awkwardly quiet mood. It was everywhere; it felt as if it would eat up and swallow her whole…she couldn't stand it.

She obviously couldn't begin to act crazy though; not with everyone around…She closed her eyes, despite the tension running through her body. She slowly took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled it slowly. A large lump emerged in her throat; it urged her yet again to reveal herself to her brother…she swallowed it roughly, sending it back down inside of her. She couldn't reveal it here; anywhere but here.

The awkward mood faded away once they got to a fruits stand. Liechtenstein turned to look at the different types of fruits. Someone shuffled past her, and she was shoved forward into the fruits display, spilling all of the fruits. She slammed to the ground, wincing in slight irritation. She looked up at the even more irritated stand clerk. Liechtenstein blushed slightly and rose to her feet, picking up fruits as she rose. "I-I'm sorry sir," she said, holding out the fruits she held. "It's just that…" She turned her head around to notice Switzerland had disappeared. She dropped the fruit and threw her head around in al directions, searching for him. She was unaware of the groaning people behind her, and the clerk's growing irritation. She caught sight of Switzerland on the other side of the dirt street, and pushed through the crowd to catch up to him. More like shoved, actually. She blocked out the sounds of complaint and protest, and started across.

She could see him behind an *elderly woman, looking cross and irritated. _Well…_she thought, watching the woman arguing with the stand clerk, _at least he looks normal…haha._

The woman's hand flew up, and Liechtenstein stopped in her tracks from surprise. Something was flying through the air. She saw the clerk cry our in shock, and Switzerland try to catch whatever it was the lady had thrown. He caught it, but nearly fell over onto her. He got up quickly. Liechtenstein saw the woman snap something at him and frowned. _He just helped you!_ She screamed in her mind. _He's being social with you! He's connecting with you…and you treat it like he's murdering you!_

She heard a neigh of a horse and whipped around, suddenly re-aware that she was standing in the middle of a road. A carriage was slowing down right in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock, and darted to the *man leading the reins. He looked quite concerned with stopping the carriage to avoid crushing her…OH CRAP! She was about to be crushed!

She ran off to the side of the road, the angry customers from before murmuring about clumsy brain-dead teenagers as she caught her breath. She pushed down on her neck, trying to get more air into her still in shock heart, and casually looked up to see if Switzerland was still across the road. She scanned the crowd. _No…brown hair, no…red dress…noooo…blue coat and brown hair…no...green jacket with…with…_

She froze with sudden realization. Her eyes dashed back over the crowd, searching for someone different than her elder brother. Her eyes widened once she caught sight of the man with a blue coat and brown hair for a third time now. Yes; she had seen that man before. Quite recently as well…

Liechtenstein whispered it to herself as the thought went into her head…

_The man in the photo._

She had found him.

But now she needed his name!

She pushed through the annoyed crowd again, and ran across the street (this time **without** stopping!), trying to find the man. She looked back and forth, not caring where Switzerland was. She needed to find him before-

"Hello there." A voice called out to her.

Liechtenstein looked around. It sounded like that was directed to her…but there were a lot of people around…She looked up to see the man staring down at her.

Her mind went blank. It was the man in the photo-and she had a million questions…but they all decided NOW to leave her mind and make her look like a fool.

He smiled down at her with the same smile in the photo. Liechtenstein just blushed and looked down. _He must be a country…_She didn't know how she knew, but she just felt it. She looked back up with a half-hearted smile, trying her best not to look like she had been slapped awake to reality. "Hello." She said, putting on her cuteness to hide her shocked state. Inside, she was slowly retrieving the runaway questions-and adding her own new ones. _He must know me if he just randomly said hello to me…_ She thought, smiling up at him. _He probably sees the resemblance between Vash and I, and assumed…_

"I certainly hope you'd remember me, Lilli Zwingli " He joked in response to the silence. Liechtenstein lit up inside. _So we __**have**__ met…why wouldn't I remember him?_

"Ah, I'm sorry…" she said blushing, the cute façade still in action. He shook his head. "That's fine, don't worry about it." He said, smiling again. He turned to walk away and looked off over his shoulder. "Do tell Vash that Roderich gives him his best regards."

Lilli stood there, watching him fade away into the crowd. Roderich? The name did sound a bit familiar…She began to think of the people she knew whose name was even relatively close to that name, but she came up blank.

"Lilli!"

She turned to see Switzerland walking towards her. She narrowed her eyes inside. _Gee Vash, thanks for being concerned that I almost got ran over…_She thought with her questioning face on as he walked over to her. "Where did you go?"

_GOSH WOW THAT'S JUST WHAT I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU! _She thought with her sarcasm wafting around her mind. "I was over there." She said innocently, pointing over across the street to the fruits stand. Switzerland glanced over to the spot she had pointed to, but only for a second. He turned around, and looked over at her. "Come on, we've got to...go…back home…" He said, already turning away and walking towards the car.

Liechtenstien sighed to herself, and walked with him, feeling weak. She hopped into the car and leaned back. _Roderich…Now all I need to do is find out __**who**__ you are…and how you're affecting my brother…_

*I have never been so tempted as to say "old lady" before in my life!

*What is it called? Ugh…

A/N: Okay, this was probably the worst chapter I have EVER written ever. EVER.

I was rushing; I'm sooo sorry for the long delay though. I don't have a good excuse though, so you can spam me with hate letters, and I'll continue to update as quickly as possible…

I want to do a special shout out: JOY APANDA CURTIS for actually reading my fanfics…on the site! *gasps* Even though you only want the Pokemon one, I feel loved that you actually read the other ones too :D

Also: This is what my friends and I would like to call a "Sebastian Mojica Face." Yes; this is a normal expression for him. Except he's not Asian…he's our Spain-kun. HI RUSSIA I'M MAKING FUN OF YOUR BOYFRIEND :B

Okay sorry for the spazzing, I'll leave you to wonder what I was doing for the past month of not updating…meanwhile, I'll work on the next chapter and later, edit this one…because it sucks…

Star saying bye…I guess…


	6. Chapter 4

I've decided to have a disclaimer…ahem…I don't own countries…or people…I think that's considered illegal… o. o (yes, I DID copy and paste from the previous chapter…)

Weeks passed and Liechtenstein hadn't found any information on this Roderich person. It wasn't really the easiest thing to do; searching it into the computer resulted in name origins and famous Germans. She didn't even know if the man's name really was Roderich. He seemed like he was referring to himself, but then again, Liechtenstein had just nearly gotten run over; it was possible that…well, anything was possible. He may not even be a country…besides, it made things moderately harder to search for someone when they were countries. You can't easily find who you're looking for on Google when you search Roderich The Country.

Meanwhile, Switzerland had been getting worse, in a sense from Liechtenstein's point of view. He stayed out really late during the day, when he would normally do is sit in his office and work…

Liechtenstein leaned back into the small arm chair she was reading in. Switzerland was…always working. Even when things had seemed normal...

Liechtenstein stared into her book, not focusing on anything. _I need to find him. I need to find Roderich, or whoever that person was. Vash needs to be…normal again! Or at least, back to how he was before all this weird stuff began happening! But Mein Gott, everything is so blank-I only know his face and his name…nothing else! This is an almost hopeless struggle!_

Liechtenstein snapped out, her focus leaving her book and her thoughts. She looked over at the clock to her side. It read 19:46. Relatively early, but doing nothing but sit all day had made Liechtenstein rather bored, and sleep was a bit better than worrying about something that troublesomely couldn't be solved at the moment.

She got up and walked to her room, passing by Switzerland's office. He left the door a crack open, but she still couldn't see though it far enough to see him. She continued walking and went into her bedroom, flopping onto her bed and closing her eyes, not bothering to remove her dress to change into her pajamas. Closing your eyes doesn't really help to sleep though. Liechtenstein laid there quietly, not really thinking about anything. She fell asleep only when her mind began to wander to memories of earlier times with Switzerland…

_Eating a meal with brother…a man pointing off in the distance…at someone next to him…Roderich…glared up at him…I continued eating…He is so much like Bruder…so much like Vash. I looked up at Vash and tried pointing this out…rebuttuled me embarrassedly…Don't bring up…again…_

Liechtenstien opened her eyes to see darkness enveloping in her room. She was wide awake, the effects of the dream fading away nearly immediately. She remembered why Roderich was so familiar to her…now at least. She sat up, beginning to smile. She had a lead, finally, after weeks of waiting and stressing and wondering; she had a lead to fixing her brother's attitude.

Thank you Gummybear94 for filling me in with that vocabulary word (previous chapter)…now that you said it, I feel so dumb for not knowing it ahhhh typical American…Star, you American you…

Okay, around four months and I haven't done a single thing. I'm sorry, but you may all kill me now. I won't bore you with what the hell I've been doing (PROCRASTINATING) so yeah hope you enjoyed. Short, because, like Lilli, I lost my leads to continue. Wanted this chapter to go a different way, but I like this better :D

I'll update when I can, I swear. I SWEARS.


	7. Chapter 5

She waited until the light was clear enough before she crept out into the kitchen to make breakfast. This was what she did every other morning although maybe not this early. Even so, Liechtenstein was swarmed with thoughts of the photo and of the dream. More importantly she was curious about how Roderich was causing this stress to her brother. If she had forgotten about him for these years, then what was he doing now to affect Switzerland's life? How did he play into all of Switzerland's cold character?

Liechtenstien strained her head back, trying to remember more about the dream. Switzerland had discouraged her from bringing up how Roderich was like him…but…why? She barely remembered why she felt the two were alike; they didn't seem so now. How was she supposed to know that Roderich would cause him this much turmoil years later?

"Mein Gott Lilli."

She tilted her head down to see Switzerland standing in the doorway. He was already dressed in his clothes, rubbing his eyes. She glanced out the window to see the sun was still at the same location in the sky as when she emerged from her room. She looked back at him, still staring at her skeptically. She slowly looked around her and noticed the amazing surplus of pancakes placed atop broken dishes on the surrounding counters. She sweatdropped, stifling out a sarcastic laugh.

"So many pancakes," Switzerland said, attempting to pick up a plate with a pile of them stacked, only to have them slip though the cracks until the plate collapsed into broken shards. "What were you doing in here? I thought I said you weren't allowed to practice self-defense inside, let alone in the kitchen."

"Why are you up so early Vash?"

"I woke to the noise of dishes breaking Lilli," he said simply, walking past her to pull out a serving platter. She blushed as he began to place the pancakes atop a new resting place. She knelt to the ground, picking up the fragments. She stared down, making sure not to cut anything when a shadow covered her view. She turned up to see Switzerland kneeling besides her. "I'll take care of it Lilli," he said softly, gently taking a piece from her hands. Liechtenstein held back a sigh of exasperation. "Vash, I'm the one who caused the mess," she said matter-of-factly, picking up another piece from the floor. "I've got it. You just got up, you-"

"Really Lilli, let me do it." Switzerland threw a laugh as he moved closer to take the shard from her hand. "You're gripping the porcelain so hard; it'll cut right into your hand-"

"Vash, I've got it." Her firm voice stopped his aid, him temporarily stunned in an open mouthed expression. She gathered the remaining pieces within the folds of her dress. "You just got up, you should rest before you spend the rest of the day shut up in your office filing papers." And with that, she poured the broken plates into the trash can and swept out of the room.

_That was bad. You hurt him._

_No it wasn't. He hurt me._

_No. He loves you. He loves you. You don't deserve that love if you treat him like this._

_But he treats me like he did those years before, like when I was younger-_

_He loves you. Remember before when no one else did-_

_VASH!_

Shut and put away. Like the book Liechtenstein had just placed back into the bookshelf, despite being so intensely devoted to reading each and every page. This wasn't like a book. She needed to find out something real, something that was eventful. She had a real mission. What it was? It involved infiltrating one of the most heavily guarded locations on the earth.

Switzerland's country relations file. Liechtenstein knew she had to determine exactly what relationship Roderich had in the past with her brother. That knowledge could possibly lead her to what their relationship was now. She sighed heavily, yet still determined to find the information. She'd have to be careful though, so he would not further worry or drip with concern over her well being.

**A/N:** And this will continue when I finish. The end is almost here :D sorry again for the delay. You guys love me. I know you do. Short chapters that take forever to write are a sign of affection. So are negative comments telling me to hurry the gypsy up. And I included some good non-internalization part with the pancakes to make it up. I made that scene up on the fly last night, so you're welcome ^^


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